The Redemption Series  The Amulet of Atheros
by CostelloRules
Summary: When an amulet shrouded in mystery threatens to destroy the world, a group of unlikely allies band together to make sure it doesn't happen, each on their own journeys of redemption and revenge. A BuffyAngel spinoff with all your favourites. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1 Faith

The Redemption Series – The Amulet of Atheros – Chapter 1 "Faith"

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_All characters referring to Buffy and Angel belong to Joss Whedon, only the plot belongs to me._

Note from the author:

_This is the first in hopefully a recurring series of a Buffy/Angel spin-off set a few years after the events that ended season 7. It has both characters from the Buffy and Angel franchise._

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Friday, 16th November 2005

_The night chill descends upon the slums of Brooklyn..._

A brazen young harlot walked slouching, shivering inside a tattered leather coat, her hands searching inside the pockets. She pulled a crushed pack of cigarettes from the left and lit up. She threw the empty pack in a trash can and walked on, not noticing she dropped her lighter. Soon enough a tall and sallow-looking stranger was chasing after her. She turned the corner and he grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Miss, you dropped your lighter." He handed it back to her. Faith looked him up and down and took it slowly from his hand.

"Thanks." She put it back in her pocket and withdrew a freshly sharpened stake. The man looked at her with shock and confusion.

"What are you doing!?"

She kicked him to a wall and punched him repeatedly in the jaw, then tripped him to the ground.

"You have no idea who you're messing with."

She raised the stake and aimed at his chest, but halted when his face didn't change. She was suddenly taken back seven years to her first 'murder', the deputy mayor. Remembering the shock and dismay she felt and the words Buffy had said to her, she stepped back and helped the guy up.

"I uh… I'm sorry."

"Jesus you're crazy bitch."

"Oh yeah?" Well maybe next time you shouldn't go chasing women in the dark, pervert." She put the stake away and walked on.

Faith quickly turned on the heater in her sadly dilapidated apartment and turned on the TV. She switched on the stove and started boiling the kettle, kicked off her heels and jumped on her festering bed. Just then a repulsive demon smashed through her window and grabbed her throat, and threw her against the wardrobe. Faith struggled to get up but was picked up off the floor and flung face first out the window onto the fire escape. She spurted out some blood and stood to face the beast, with a large length of broken glass in her palm. The demon did not move.

"Come on!" She spat out some more blood and wiped her face.

"What are you waiting for!?" He stared blankly back. She picked up a large sheet of glass and flung it towards it. The demon stepped to one side and watched it smash. Then it looked back towards Faith and began to speak in a husky, booming tone.

"Buffy Summers?" Faith giggled.

"No honey, the names Faith." She jumped back through the frame and swung the glass at his neck; the demon picked her up at the waist and pushed her to the wall. While loosing breath she stood again and attempted a right hook at his chest, only to be beaten back to the floor.

"Where is the slayer?"

"Half way around the world last time I checked." She raised and faced it.

"Then I shall leave, you are of no importance to me." Faith picked up the broken glass and drove it straight through his back.

"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy. Can I ask, what is you're kind's obsession with her? I mean what makes her so great? I'm a slayer, I save the world too, but oh no Buffy gets all the credit, perfect Buffy Summers." She picks him up and heaves him towards the stove.

"Well you know what? I don't think she's got much going for her to be honest. Can't keep a man, skinny, nothing going for her in the chest department and 'bout as fun as a castration treatment." She fetches a knife from her gym bag and halts it above his head.

"You know, I'm glad you came here today, you really helped me think about my life, you know, helped me move on to the next step or something bullshit like that. See ya." She let the knife slip into the back of his skull and withdrew it, watching the blood ooze out.

As she began disposing the body, a grand-looking necklace caught her eye.

"Sweet." She snatched it off his neck and took a closer look. Something wasn't right. An aura of darkness surrounded the stone embedded in its centre, black and haunting, this was an item of evil and great power, she could feel it. Faith leaned in closer and closer until she could hear it mutter something, faint words.

"The Beast shall rise again."


	2. Chapter 2 Cordelia

Friday 16th November 2005

_Something stirs in the ruins of Wolfram & Hart…_

A hollow wreck remained where the prominent lawyer's office Wolfram & Hart used to stand so proud. Charred walls, broken windows, the putrid carcasses of demonic figures, an innate sense of pain and hunger. The public feared to go near this building, too many horror stories of curses and 'revenge from beyond the grave'. Silence is all that came from the wreckage. Silence. But this night, something could be heard, a bang, a bright spark and a crash. Then more silence.

Cordelia woke, lying on the floor of a burnt-out room overlooking an empty parking lot. She gathered her breath and pushed herself up from the ground to the support of a broken wall.

"What the…" she murmured as she gazed around in bewilderment at her surroundings. Desperately looking for an answer to what the hell was going on. She remembered how to walk and steadied herself through what looked like used to be a hallway. A reception desk still stood, beneath a fading sign that read 'Wolfram & Hart, attorneys at law'. Cordelia's facial expression shifted to one of fear and sudden panic over the welfare of her beloved Angel and her friends. She darted her head around frantically and quickened her pace towards the lower floors.

Cordelia trailed her fingers along the peeling walls and thought out loud.

"What happened here?" As she reached the stairway she caught a whiff of the familiar scent of death. She opened the door ajar and discovered the source, the rotten flesh hanging in strands from the charred bones of former Wolfram &Hart employees.

"Oh god." She covered her mouth with her arm and walked quickly past the bodies, down the stairs to the entrance lobby and straight out the doorway, meeting the fresh night breeze and the harsh light of the street.

She was in a fluster, hot and nauseous, dazed and confused. With no thought she let out an almighty cry and dropped to the ground. She had no idea what was going on, where her friends were, what to do to find them, who could help her. Left with only one option, she concentrated, fell still and called upon the powers.

Cordelia stood in a circular room, the ceiling towering over her head, a pedestal in the centre with a burning flame teasing her. Out of nowhere a powerful voice called her name.

"Cordelia Chase." She stood tall and stretched her neck.

"Yes."

"You are not supposed to be here. You are dead."

"Yep, but still achingly beautiful."

"Why are you here, on this plain?"

"I don't know that's what I'm here to ask you." A sudden silence fell, but she wanted her questions answered.

"Where are my friends?"

"They are dead."

Cordelia backed towards the wall and looked towards the floor, shaking her head, uncertain and afraid.

"…are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Um …how …when?"

"A long time ago, many died in a great battle against the forces of evil. The demon Lorne was murdered by a slayer." The voice changed tone.

"Angel …was killed by his sire, protecting Buffy Summers." Cordelia was tense, fighting back the tears filling in her eyes, her fists clenched.

"You have your answers. But why you are back, this I do no know."

With a flash of light she was back on the pavement alone. Passers by whispered and sneered at her lying on the ground. But she didn't notice. Rage was surging through her, her mind bent on pain and destruction. She rose, patted the dust of her shirt and jeans and walked onwards.

She entered a familiar artefact store run by a woman the team had previously saved from a Keslar demon. The woman got up off her seat to aid her in her search, dancing about gleefully.

"Miss Chase I, I can't believe you're here, it's been like I dunno, three years or more even-"

"Yeah I missed you too Luanne."

"So what are you looking for exactly?"

"A weapon."

"You guys off to fight the forces of darkness again!?"

"Something like that."

"Then I have just the thing." She skipped past some shelves into the back and brought out a shining katana blade. "I think this should do nicely." She passed the sword to Cordelia, stepped back and clasped her hands together.

"So what d'ya think? Is this alright?" Cordelia gave a faint smirk.

"This'll do fine. Listen though Luanne, I don't exactly have the money to-"

"No charge. You guys have done so much for me already."

"Thanks."

"Hey tell the gang I said hi, ok." Cordelia's lips tightened up and her heart started pounding harder in her chest.

"Sure."

She left the store, concealing the blade behind her back with the strap. She stood still for a minute, trying to gather some thoughts. But the only thing she could think of was …revenge.


	3. Chapter 3 Willow

Friday 11th November 2005

_The flaming-haired witch can't escape her dark side…_

Jasmine, a rather old and lacklustre member of the coven, tied the curtains together to shield the light seeping in to the hall while Holly, a younger and more exuberant sister, shut the grand arched doors so as to stop any intrusions. Willow sat cross-legged on the carpet, gathering together ingredients from the centre of the circle and muttering to herself.

"Hannigan, Rose quartz, Tribekan…" Once she had gathered together everything she needed, she called to the women expecting her orders.

"Ok everyone, were ready."

The group of twelve women sat holding hands around a gothic-looking statue circled with candles and stones. They each placed in the centre a handful of funny coloured sand which sparkled yet in darkness and pulled the hoods on their robes over their faces.

"Let's begin." Holly looked around at her fellow sisters and was suddenly nervous.

"Um Willow, what exactly are we doing again?" Shaking.

"You're chanting the passage you were supposed to remember." Willow's voice changed to a rather more girly and uncertain one.

"You did all remember the passage, right?"

"Of course we did it's not that, it's the intent of the spell I'm not sure of."

"Well Holly we're gonna help a friend of mine."

"By doing what? None of the "sisters" tell me these things."

"Were going to bring back a friend of mine who died."

"But why?"

"Because Buffy needs Angel no matter what she says …enough questions."

A few minutes of intense silence followed.

"It should happen pretty quick." Willow began speaking in a rasped tongue.

"_I beseech you, the blessed one, grant thee thy wish, bring back the one who is lost, the champion of the people weans to be reborn…"_

The scattered sand formed as one and built to a violent flame, howling. An immense heat followed, the younger witches gasped for breath.

"_I ask you, grant thee thy wish, we seek access to the knowing ones, let them speak…"_

The floorboards rattled, the walls vibrated and a powerful wind smashed the stained windows into a thousand pieces. The wind formed a vortex, swirling around the great room. For a full minute the witches just sat and watched the destruction. Holly shifted and tried to make an escape, before Jasmine grabbed her arm.

"Sit down!"

"_I beg you, let the-"_

A jolt of lightning picked Willow from the floor and tossed her across the room to land on the podium. She lay motionless for a few seconds but shook her head and twisted her body towards the flame. She struggled up, blood dripping down her face, her hair turning a jet black, her eyes fiery red. She moved closer to the circle, her sisters staring at her in fear and dread. More and more the wind slammed into her, cutting her body. She screeched the words;

"_Bring back the warrior of the people."_

The statue glowed a blinding white, energy blasting from it in pulsing shockwaves, tearing the hall to shreds, the other sisters beaten and bruised. The statue cracked then disintegrated into dust. Then it stopped. The flame died away, the wind lost it's current and disappeared, the objects caught in the spiral crashed to the floor. Willow ached a smile and ran to the circle, her hair turning the infamous fiery-red again, but halted. The women all looked towards the spot where the vampire's body was supposed to lay, to find nothing. Willow let out a gasp and a spurt of blood.

"It didn't work, it didn't work." Each of the sisters had a sympathetic smile through their cut faces. They each in turn left the hall at their own pace, leaving Willow to mourn as the sun disappeared behind the hills.

Morning broke. Willow quickly through her clothes, her magic ingredients and her books in a rucksack, turned off the bedside lamp and locked her chamber door. She scrambled across the lawn to the dirt path that lead away from the coven and continued up it, not looking back. It wasn't long before her heavy foot steps were heard by Jasmine.

"Willow!" she called, stumbling up the path in her night gown, "Where are you going?"

"I don't know I, I can't stay here is all."

"But why you were making such good progress."

"I don't belong here Jasmine, I need to be alone for a while, get my head together."

"I understand. But Willow its too dangerous for you to be alone right now, you know that."

"Yeah. It's also too dangerous for me to be around people right now as well. Jasmine I need to figure things out for myself for once, I keep running away from my problems instead of trying to deal with them, you saw what happened tonight. I can't let that happen again."

"Where are you going to go?"

"I dunno. But I'll be ok. Goodbye Jasmine, thanks for everything and tell the sisters I-"

"I will. Goodbye." The two women leaned in for a hug. They waited just a moment before Willow began walking away again to an uncertain future.


End file.
